Sliding vehicle door



' y 2, 1940- P. L. o. DENISON El AL 2,206,599

SLIDING VEHICLE DOOR Filed Dec. 114, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet J 3 r m V N W.6 R

July 2, 1940.. P. L. '0. DENISON El" AL} 2,205,599

SLIDING VEHICLE DOOR Filed Dec.'l4, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 P.L.0. DEN/JONfi- E G.O.6uJT

Patented July 2, 1940 UNITED STATES SLIDING VEHICLE DOOR I PercivalLewisO. Denison and George 0. Guest,

Winnipeg, Manitoba,

Canada, assignors to The National Cartage and Storage Limited, Winnipeg,Manitoba, Canada Application December l l, 1937, Serial No. 179,772

3 Claims.

Our invention relates to improvements in sliding vehicle doors, anobject of this invention being to provide a sliding door especiallyadaptable to trucks, box cars and the like, and especially refrigeratortrucks and refrigerator box cars.

A further object of our invention is to provide a sliding door which atnotime during the opening and closing thereof will project beyond thevertical sides or ends of a vehicle upon which it is mounted. Y

A further object of our invention is to provide a sliding door of thecharacter herewithin described which renders unnecessary the use of afalse part, a false wall or false floor for its reception when inopenposition.

A further object of our invention is to provide a sliding door of thecharacter herewithin described designed to open downwardly and capableof being closed by a simple lifting movementapplied adjacent the topedge of the door.

A further object of our invention is to provide a sliding door havingcounter-balance mechanism to facilitate the closing and openingmovement.

A further object of our invention is to provide a device of thecharacter herewithin described which is of eminent simplicity ofstructure, economical to install and which cannot easily become out oforder.

With the above more important objects in view and such other minorobjects as may appear as the specification proceeds, our inventionconsists essentially in the arrangement and construction of parts all ashereinafter more particularly described, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a rear elevation of a closed-in truck fitted with our improvedsliding door.

Fig. 2 isa side view, partly in section, of the rear portion of theclosed-in truck fitted with our sliding door, shown open.

Fig. 3 is a perspective illustration of our guide bracket.

Fig. 4 is a seotionupon the line 44 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a section upon the line 55 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 6 is a section upon the line 6-6 of Fig. 1.

In the drawings like characters of reference indicate correspondingparts in the different figures.

One of the inconveniences when opening the rear doors of a closed-intruck which has been backed up against the platform of a warehouse, forinstance, is the fact that the swinging type of door constitutes anobstruction, and it may,

for instance, make necessary the removal of material upon the platformin order that the said doors may be swung open, or on the other hand,the doors may sometimes have to be opened before the truck is backedagainst the platform, and in the case of refrigerator trucks especially,this is a serious inconvenience. On the other hand the doors may have tobe opened before the truck is backed against the platform because thelower edge of the doors is below the surface of the platform.Horizontally slidable doors also present difiiculties, one of thesedifficulties residing in the fact that such doors cannot generally bemade sufficiently wide for practical purposes.

Furthermore, they are expensive to install, as are also such types ofsliding doors as are designed to disappear within a false top or beneatha false floor. In addition to this, sliding doors of this type generallyproject in the act of being closed or opened.

The opening or closing of the doors of box 7 cars and especiallyrefrigerator box cars also presents difficulties where the car isstanding parallel to and close to the wall of an adjacent warehouse. Insuch cases it is very often impossible to open the usual hinged door toanything like its full extent, which seriously impairs the ability tomove freight into and from the said car. In such cases the usualpractice is to open the doors before the car is moved alongside thewarehouse, but in some cases this course is not possible. I We haveaccordingly devised a vertically slidable door, which at no time duringthe act of closing and opening the same will project be: yond theadjacent surfaces and which will not require the use of a false top or afalse floor. Moreover, in the case of closed-in trucks, the door mayoccupy practically the whole of the width of the truck, which is, inmany cases, of considerable convenience for the rapid stowage andremoval of freight.

Accordingly, our invention consists of a slidable door I, divided intoupper and lower panels 2 and 3, the two panels being connected by meansof hinges 4. Hand grips 5 may be provided adjacent the upper edge of thelower panel to facilitate closing if desired, and the panels aredesigned to slide in a vertical recess 6 formed within the width of theadjacent walls I, flanges 8 being provided along the vertical edges ofthe two panels to extend into the recesses.

At the top of the recesses 8, we provide upon each side, a stationarypulley 9, over which extends a chain or cord I 0, and at the end of eachcord is a counter-weight I I to facilitate the opening and closing ofthe panels forming the sliding door. The counter-weights mayconveniently be maintained against lateral movement by being positionedwithin a longitudinal square aperture I2, if desired. It should beunderstood, however, that the foregoing description as to the meanswhereby our panels are maintained in position between the side walls isillustrative only and many variations may be effected within the scopeof this patent. I

Extending along the lower edge of the panel 3, is a reinforcing bar I3and upon the lower edge of the panel, in substantially verticalalignment with the outer vertical surfaces of each of the longitudinalbody supporting members I4 we secure a pair of angle brackets, I5, andangulated guide bar I6 most clearly illustrated in Fig. 2 of thedrawings accompanying this specification being pivotally attached bymeans of the lock nut assembly I'! to each of the angle brackets I5.

To the outer vertical surface of each of the 1ongitudinal bodysupporting members It is secured a guide bracket I 8, of theconfiguration clearly illustrated in Fig. 3 of the drawings accompanyingthis specification, this bracket being preferably mounted at a slightangle, also as clearly illustrated. This element, it will be seen isprovided with a longitudinally extending slot I9, at the rear end ofwhich is small recess 20, the upper end of each of. the angulated guidebars I 6 being provided with an inwardly projecting stud H designed totravel within the slot I9, this stud being maintained within the trackby a lock-nut and washer assembly 22 secured to the free end of thestud.

When the door is in closed position the angulated guide bar I6 will beoccupying the posi tion shown in phantom lines in Fig. 2 of the drawingsaccompanying this specification, but when it is desired to open the doorafter unlocking in the well-known manner, the panels will be pulleddownwardly by the use of the hand-grip 5, and as they move downwardly,the guide bars I6 will rotate about the angle bracket I5 at one end andwithin the track I9 at the other end. When the lower panel has reachedthe end of its downward travel, the guide bars I6 will have travelledthe full length of the slots I9, so that the portion 2| will be restingin the recess 20. At this point continued downward pressure upon thelower panel by the upper panel will cause the former to travelrearwardly through a curved path, while the links I6 rotate in therecess 20 until the lower panel assumes a horizontal position as clearlyshown in full lines in Figure, 2 of the drawings accompanying thisspecification. The upper panel will not change its direction but will bein a vertical plane throughout its entire sliding movement.

When the door is to be closed, it is lifted upwardly by means of thehand grip and as the panel 2 rises vertically the angle between thepanel 2 and the panel 3 will become greater as the guide bars rotate ontheir studs H, which at this time are resting in the recesses 20. Whenthe lower panel has travelled through its curved path and is again inthe vertical position, the member 2| will thereafter move out of therecess 20 and travel along the slot I9.

From the foregoing it will be seen that we have devised an extremelysimplified form of sliding door for use on closed truck bodies, box carsand the like, which can be easily and economically installed uponexisting trucks and freight car bodies and which cannot easily becomeout of order.

It will be understood that our invention is susceptible to manymodifications, one of which might consist in the elimination of theherewithin described guide bracket and in such case the angulated linkwould itself be slotted and a suitably positioned stud would then besecured within the slot. The stud in this case would be stationary. Onthe other hand, the link might be secured for pivotal movement about astud fastened to the longitudinal body supports and in this case thelink would be slotted, but at the rear end thereof, and possibly abouttwo-thirds of its length. Studs would then be fastened to the lower edgeof the panel 3 to ride in the slots when the panel is raised andlowered. In addition, we would mention that by slight modification instructure, our door may be caused to slide sideways or be made to openby a lifting movement, in which case the link would be secured to thetop edge of the upper panel 2.

It should also be noted that by further modification of this invention apair of links may be employed in substitution of the single angulatedlink described herewithin, such links being freely connected toeachother at adjacent ends. The outer end of one of the links would then besecured adjacent the lower edge of the lower panel, the outer end of theother link being pivotally secured at a suitable point to the rear ofthe door, such as upon the longitudinal body supports of a truck. Inthis case a lug or other suitable stop would be provided adjacent thepoint where the links are connected one to the other to limit the amountof rotative movement between the two.

A further modification would consist of the provision of a pair oftracks below and in end alignment with the tracks herewithin describedwhich extend vertically upon either side of the panels when in closedposition. These auxiliary tracks would be hinged at the'upper ends, thepoint of hinging being somewhat offset to the rear of the tracks. Thusthe lower panel would proceed downwardly upon the opening of the dooralong the auxiliary tracks until the entire Vertical edges of the panelhad been received thereinto after which, by continued downward pressureupon the panels, the auxiliary tracks would hinge rearwardly upon theoffset hinges.

A further modification might consist of the provision of one of the pairof guide brackets somewhat similar to that herewithin described andillustrated, but placed vertically upon the rear surface of the panel.In this case we would make use of a link, but the said link would simplybe rotatably secured at a point adjacent to the rear of the door whilethe other end thereof would slide within the guide bracket upon thepanel.

Since various modifications can be made in the above invention, and manyapparently widely different embodiments of same, made within the scopeof the claims without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, it isintended that all matter contained in the accompanying specificationshall be interpreted as illustrative only and not in a limiting senseand We desire only suchlimitations placed thereon as are specificallyexpressed in the accompanying claims.

What we claim as our invention is:

1. Ina commercial vehicle closure, upper and lower vertically slidable,panels hinged each to the other along adjacent horizontal edges andpositioned in vertical tracks upon either side thereof, means forguiding said lower panel, upon the opening of said closure, towards orinto the horizontal beneath said vehicle and to the rear of the plane ofsaid closure when closed, said upper panel remaining in a substantiallyvertical plane during the guided movement of said lower panel towards orinto the horizontal.

2. In a commercial vehicle closure, upper and lower vertically slidablepanels hinged each to the other along adjacent horizontal edges andpositioned in vertical tracks upon either side thereof, means forguiding one of said panels, upon the opening of said closure, towards orinto the horizontal and to the rear of the plane of said closure whenclosed, the movement of the remaining panel being confined substantiallyto the vertical.

3. In a commercial vehicle closure, upper and lower vertically slidablepanels hinged each to the other along adjacent horizontal edges andpositioned in vertical tracks along either side thereof, means forguiding said lower panel, upon the opening of said closure, towards orinto the horizontal beneath said vehicle and to the rear of the plane ofthe closure when closed, the movement of said upper panel being confinedsubstantially to the vertical and. consisting of a downwardly slidingmovement terminated when the upper edge thereof is substantially inalignment with the floor of said vehicle.

PERCIVAL LEWIS O. DENISON. GEORGE C. GUEST.

